I have heard... 

When Pompei was burning, and the whole town was rushing out, and people were carrying whatsoever they could carry  – jewels, gold, silver, valuable things.... And they were all crying and weeping because they had much that they could not carry  –somebody has missed his child, somebody has missed his wife. It was a mad crowd  – the whole town on fire-and they were all rushing out of the town just to save their lives. It was a chaos.

Only one man, it is said  – it was three o'clock in the morning  – only one man was coming out of the town very quietly, silently, as if nothing had happened. He was a mystic. He had only a walking-stick. And many people looked at him and said, 'You look undisturbed.' He said, 'For what to get disturbed? I have nothing else  – just this walking-stick; and this is my time to go for a morning walk. So, for what?... I have nothing to lose!'

Live here in such a way that the 'here' does not become too important for you  – don't become obsessed. It is good to live in a house, but when the time comes to leave the house one should be able to go without looking back. Be with people  – but if your wife dies, one should be able to say goodbye silently, lovingly, with no complaint, with no grudge. Live in such a way that you don't become entangled too much.

So live here, my brother, 

That you may cross with ease to that other shore.

And that other shore is not very far away, the other shore surrounds you everywhere. If you start living rightly... and what do I mean by 'rightly'? Those four steps: be herenow, learn to transform your poisons into honey, share your positivity, and be nothing. That's what I mean by 'living rightly.'

If you live rightly, in twenty  – four hours' time you will cross many times to this shore from that, from that to this, from this to that  – many times God will penetrate you, radiate within you. Many times you will be suddenly on the other shore. Walking on the street... and suddenly he is there. The sun is falling on you, the sunrays falling behind the trees... and suddenly the other shore is there. It is not somewhere far away near other galaxies; it is always here. It is a quality of your awareness, it is a quality of your understanding, it is a quality of your meditation. If you are unburdened here, unobsessed with the worldly things....

Live in the world but don't allow the world to live in you. And then you will be alone even in the crowd... and even in the crowd you will see the other shore. The other shore becomes so close that you can cross the barrier any moment you want. It is so easy, like breathing  – but the art has to be learned. It is a question of art, skill. Be skillful. Love, but don't allow your love to become lust. Love, but don't allow your love to become attachment. Love, but don't allow your love to become a dependence, a slavery. And then... then love tremendously. Then there is no fear. And loving, you will be able to cross to the other shore without any difficulty.

Use money, but don't become money-minded. I'm not saying escape from money, and I'm not saying escape from your wife and children and desert them and go to the Himalayan caves  – I am not teaching any sort of foolishness to you. And neither is Kabir in favor of that. Kabir is tremendously life-affirmative, he's absolutely for life. In fact, anybody who knows God will be for life, because this life is of God. If you escape from life you are escaping from God himself-from the very opportunity where he was available. Don't escape anywhere. Rather than putting effort into escaping, put more effort into becoming aware. That will be the real escape: without escaping anywhere, you will create a cave in your heart... and you will start living there.

And the other shore is always by the corner. Any moment you want, you can move... and you can have as many drinks out of God in the day as you like. Looking at a flower, you can drink him... and the other shore opens. It is a vision  – it is not a material thing. Looking at a rose flower silently, lovingly, without any verbalization inside  – total silence... and the silence becomes luminous, and the silence becomes a song, and a vision arises. The flower disappears, you disappear... and God is there. In the disappearance of the subject and the object, the gap arises. Between the two notes, the pause... and suddenly you are on the other shore.

Osho, The Divine Melody, Talk #9